The Superior times. [volume] (Superior, Wis.) 1870-1912, 1887-09-17
THE HOUSEKEEPl
Cooking pegetdbtrs.

Vegetables ought always to be kept in
cool, clean, dark place, IN cellar if posi-
! bic. Sunshine or even a strong light
renders them tabby and havorless. Per-
1 ishable fresh vegetables out to be eaten the
/ day they are picked. Nothing is known of
their true inwardnesss" by the city denizen
who buys them from the corner grocer or
huckster. Like every other kind of food,
the tootheomeness of vegetables depends
on the perfection of cooking. Failure con-
slsts in their being under-done or over
done, under-seasOned or over seasoned,
and in being served half cold.
Soft water should be used in boiling or
stewing whenever practicable. Cooked
quickly in Just enough water to cover them,
their delicacy of flavor will be preserved.
AS soon as vegetables are thoroughly
! done, not n moment before, they should be
taken from the fire and served III hot
dishes. BY the time they are on the plates
| they will be cool enough.
| Fresh vegetables are best cooked in boil
| ing water and sailed when half done. Dried
vegetables ought to be soaked, sometimes
| twelve hours or more, as is the case with
| beans and peas. Roots or tubers need
! pairing or scraping, and soaking couple of
! hours before they are put on to cook,
! especially IN the latter part of the winter
/ when they have become wilted.
/ In regard to the length of time required
| for cooking, no rule can be given. 1t
/ varies with different states of the atmos-
! phere, as we'll as with the condition of the
/ vegetables. Roughly stated, half mn hour
I is long enough to cook the tender summer
( vegetables, TO which add fifteen minutes
/ for the cooking of most roots.
I Many vegetables, like cabbage and
squash, are better steamed than boiled;
/ they furnish their own juices and are richer
without act with water. When Ioiled,
the less water used the better; if kept
/ tightly covered and cooked quickly, 10
additional water will be needed. 1t must
! always be boiling If more is necessary, but
! even then the vegetable soaks up a
! portion of the water before boiling begins
anew.
| Porcelain-lned or granitized ware IS
| better than tin for everything. Most
! vegetables contain a small amount of acid
or potash, and some contain a large
amount.
| No attempt has been made to give the
! exact quantity of salt needed in each dish.
/ Some persons require double the amount
that others use. Pepper IS disagreeable to
a portion of vegetable eaters and agreeable
to others. / have long noticed that those
/ given to a large use of pepper, salt, spices,
and condiments are almost universally
restless, excitable, and irascible. They are
4 subject to violent and infammatory dis
eases, and when past middle age, become
/ great sufferers. Condiments are acrid,
! irritating, and inhammatory in tendency,
and whatever disturDs the physical being
/ inevitably tends TO disturb that mental and
superior portion which is so intimately con-
nected with and dependent upon the
/ coarser part which clothes it with a living
garment.
| That ii is more difficult TO make yege-
! tables palatable without meat than with it
1 cannot be denied. We inherit the taste for
! animal food, ana in cold weather most
! people feel they must have it. When it Is
not practicable to secure fresh meat, or it
/ is not desired, it is surprising how many
| changes may be rung upon half dozen
| vegetables. Cooking them in various ways
| Is like having SO many new dishes. Pota-
/ toes, for instance, afford remarkable Va
riety. Served with different vegetables
I from day to day, it is a standby from one
/ years end to another. Hester ". Poole,
I I'M r.p,g JT1,yyaL.,y,i,,,,